I Hate Politics Podcast

Maryland House passes Good Cause Eviction for the second time Bill sponsor Jheanelle Wilkins is hoping the Senate will finally pass it this year.  MD Senator Cheryl Kagan joins to discuss the Special Elections Bill. MCPS families receive emails from a class action settlement in Illinois involving the platform Naviance which is widely used in the school district. What is going on?  Online privacy a...

Maryland Governor Moore is betting on lighthouse industries, biotech and quantum computing, to bring economic growth to the state, but how and why innovation works at the state level is contested territory. There are a ton of books and articles on the subject, but no consensus. Sunil Dasgupta talks with the Cambridge University political economist James D.G. Wood, whose new book, States of Innovat...

Last week the Montgomery County Board of Education approved a plan for secondary regional programs that will split the county into six mini-districts and a proposal to move Wootton High School from Rockville to Gaithersburg. In Annapolis, MD Senate and House face off over a special election bill and a thwarted Congressional redistricting. And more. Music by A Shrewdness of Apes.

After Crossover Day in the Maryland General Assembly, the last day bills need to be passed by one chamber and moved to the other for regular consideration, Sunil Dasgupta talked with Delegate Marc Korman about what bills made the cut and what they mean. Music by Seth Kibel.

Montgomery County Board of Education to vote this week on  regional programs to reorganize the school district into six mini-districts. We have a report from John F. Kennedy High School in east county. What is prevailing wage and why does it matter for school construction? Frederick County data center opponents report they have enough signatures for a ballot question to shrink the land area allowe...

The dire budget situation in Maryland and seeming mismanagement at the agency has put the crosshairs on the state's Developmental Disabilities Administration, DDA, which supports about 20,000 Marylanders with everyday assistance like employment, at-home assistance to round the clock 1-on-1 help. Sunil Dasgupta spoke with Greg Snyder, vice-president of the Maryland Association of Community Services...

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich proposes tax and user fee hikes in his 2026-27 budget. We have the details. Pepco and Washington Gas rates are about to go up again. David Lapp, Maryland's utility consumer advocate, breaks it down. Baltimore County Delegate Sheila Ruth has proposed a bill to remove the 18-month provisional driver's license period for new drivers above the age of 18. Why? An...

The January 2026 snowstorm closed MCPS for 5 consecutive days. The school district is seeking new state law to exempt itself from the 180-day school year requirement. The move has broad support from local elected officials. But one voice of an MCPS parent and PTA activist stands out. Sunil Dasgupta talks with Evelyn Chung who says letting MCPS off the hook for the lost days defeats the school dist...

An accidental revelation outs Amazon Web Services as the company behind a Calvert County datacenter NDA and residents are upset. In Frederick County, data center opponents are collecting signatures for a ballot referendum. Montgomery County rejects proposal for a data center task force. MCPS is piloting AI-based security camera monitoring in three high schools. Have you noticed the increased stree...

Gino Renne is the longtime president of UFCW 1994 MCGEO, the county government employees union. Sunil Dasgupta talks with Gino Renne about the county's politics, history, the role of unions, and the challenges of economic development and rent stabilization. Music by Seth Kibel.

OPM is shuttering the CFC website. Data center wars heat up over new proposal for old coal power plant in Dickerson in Montgomery County MD. CCAN's Mike Tidwell spoke to the developer, Atmosphere. In West Virginia, state officials welcome an even bigger data center. WV Delegate Evan Hansen with what is known. As ICE appears to move its equipment fleet to Maryland, state Delegate Vaughn Stewart exp...

Sunil Dasgupta talks with UMBC Media Studies Professor Jason Loviglio about his new book, Empathy Machines: This American Life, Podcasting, and the Public Radio Structure of Feeling, about the sociology of public radio aesthetics and the podcasting that emanated from it, as well as the political economy of a medium that burst through the American consciousness and now searching for its evolution....

President Trump and Gov Wes Moore spar over jurisdiction at the sewage spill site. Dean Naujoks of the Potomac Riverkeeper Network with an update. What's happening with the housing agenda in the Maryland General Assembly? Maryland Association of Counties' Michael Sanderson explains. Montgomery County Board of Education takes the first step closing down the school district only and months-old chart...

In 2019, Maryland became the first state in the nation to establish a Prescription Drug Affordability Board. After years of preparatory work, the agency is poised to take its first actions on two blockbuster diabetes drugs, Jardiance and Farxiga, and a year later, the Board can expand its price control mechanism to the private insurance market. Will they clear the thicket of dysfunction in the dru...

The Wootton High School shooting revives calls to bring SROs back to MCPS schools. MontgomeryCounty Councilmember Dawn Luedtke on why. Magruder High School in Derwood often gets overlooked in MCPS planning. PTSA President Kim Glassman wants answers. The Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee can now for the first time become involved in non-partisan Board of Education races. Chair Pam Luck...

From Walkersville, MD, a purple town of 7,000 on Route 15, which connects Frederick, MD, to Gettysburg, PA, a tale of political education. Sunil Dasgupta talks with Town Commissioner Chris Ragen, a self-professed conservative, about his efforts to increase public participation in a decision that could have changed the town's police force and saved money. Newly in public domain music by George Gers...

MCPS proposes to move Wootton High School from Rockville to Gaithersburg and causes uproar in the community. The Montgomery County Council oversight hearing on the failure of snow response comes down to coordination and communication. We read between the lines. Howard County, MD, becomes the first in the state council to revoke a building permit in Elkridge for an ICE jail. And more. Newly in publ...

A new book, Storm at the Capitol: An Oral History of January 6 th , by Associated Press Congressional Reporter Mary Clare Jalonick, captures first-hand descriptions of the day of the biggest attack on the United States Capitol since 1814. Jalonick, who was trapped in the press gallery of the U.S. House of Representatives, says she wanted to create a definitive record of the day because there is no...

How do other jurisdictions and past snow events compare to Snowcrete 2026? Montgomery County Councilmember Andrew Friedson weighs in prior to oversight hearings. Leaders from Republican-leaning jurisdictions oppose the 287g ICE agreement ban because they say the arrangement preempts ICE violence. MD Delegate Vaughn Stewart explores legislative ideas to limit ICE presence after the federal agency b...

Montgomery County Public Schools, which had banned AI in classrooms in 2023, now has a draft new AI policy document out for public comment. Sunil Dasgupta talks with MCPS parent, Ed tech expert, and Stoneridge School of the Scared Heart teacher Jaime Chao Mignano to break down the document and the big AI questions that are predicted to upend education itself. Newly in public domain music by George...

The snow emergency has captured attention; hundreds of millions of raw sewage has spilled into the Potomac River from a pipe break under the American Legion Bridge, which joins Maryland and Virginia. DC Water, which runs the pipe, is working on it, but no local jurisdiction has issued a health advisory. Maryland Governor Wes Moore presented the last budget of his first term. We have takeaways. Mon...

Data center demand for power is causing electricity bills to rise dramatically. The regional grid operator for the 13-state electricity market, PJM Interconnection, is under bipartisan pressure to address affordability. Meanwhile new 2026 property tax assessment notices show variation in assessed values of similar homes. Sunil Dasgupta talks with Abe Silverman, electricity lawyer at Johns Hopkins...

MD's new House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk on the new era and its challenges. The state's  ER wait times problem. ICE action in Democratic jurisdictions leads Montgomery County, MD, to codify a 2019 immigrant protection executive order into law, says council president Natali Fani Gonzalez. A crisis call gone wrong leads to a call for police protection for mental health response. Music by Kara Lev...

In 2025, Governor Wes Moore's housing bills were defeated in the General Assembly, in part due to the efforts of the Maryland Association of Counties (MACo), which represents the state's 23 counties and Baltimore City. Will the state's counties be more supportive of the Governor's housing bills this year? Sunil Dasgupta talks with MACo Executive Director Michael Sanderson about housing and related...

Renee Good's killing in Minneapolis sparks local protests. Delegates David Moon and Adrian Boafo propose new laws to deter ICE abuse of force. Governor Moore presents new spending ideas after promising no new taxes. Pay raise proposed for Montgomery County school board. A John Harbaugh retrospective and what's next at the Baltimore Ravens. Music by Kara Levchenko.